It's a touchy subject, and much like a past alphabet agencies favorite way to discredit people in the past, it doesn't need to be true to be effective.
However, it doesn't mean you should just discredit it immediately. If someone does come forward with a blatantly false allegation, there's legal (steps to be taken as shown recently. )[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/chuck-schumer-slams-forged-sex-harassment-documents-phony-allegation-n829076]
Now it strikes me as suspicious that more accused haven't taken legal steps to prosecute the false accusers.
The problem with this whole thing is the lack of evidence on both sides.
Now it strikes me as suspicious that more accused haven't taken legal steps to prosecute the false accusers.
I've definitely heard crickets about people stepping forward to prosecute (or threaten to sue) the accusers. Not sure if the media is intentionally not covering that, if many accused are so guilty that they don't want to take it to court, or if the accused just hope it blows over. It is odd.
I agree, the absence seems pretty unusual.
My guess is it would be portrayed as victim blaming. In the case I linked to there was a lot of solid evidence that the whole thing was bullshit.
Depending on the situation if there's vagueness involved it would most likely make the whole process of disproving the claims much more difficult.
It's honestly frightening. Many news orgs were reporting that the allegations must be trusted just because of the number of allegations. That's absolute bullshit and that type of reporting is extremely dangerous. I would go as far as to call it interfering with an election. I hope that Moore continues his plan to sue for defamation, because some news orgs definitely reported some of the allegations inaccurately and without proper vetting (like that yearbook signature, where the lady came out last week admitting that she did some of the writing that was in question).
What's to stop anyone or any group from making false or inaccurate accusations now in order to tank a candidate? Three members of Congress have now recently resigned because of accusations, and a candidate lost because of accusations. Where is due process and the presumption of innocent until proven guilty?
This is scary.